This decadent Baked Speculaas Cheesecake recipe is the perfect dessert to make during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays as its flavoured with comforting festive spices.
The soft and creamy interior of the cake gets its velvety texture due to a combination of whipped ricotta, cream cheese, eggs and melted white chocolate.
It’s baked in a springform pan then decorated with Speculaas Cookies, creating an eye-catching dessert topped with whimsical Dutch windmills.
Save this story to Pinterest!
What Is Speculaas Cheesecake?
I’ve always loved baking cakes and pies! Dense and rich cheesecakes are one of my family’s favourite desserts to slice for special occasions.
Last year for my birthday I made an easy No Bake Kinder Bueno Cheesecake. This year I wanted to make a baked cheesecake for Thanksgiving. Since my family love Dutch Speculaas Biscuits I incorporated the comforting spiced cookies into a decadent cheesecake recipe. It’s the perfect spiced dessert to serve in the Autumn or Winter season.
Speculaas is a type of spiced shortcrust biscuit baked with “speculaas spices”. It originates from the County of Flanders territory in present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Speculaas biscuits are usually flat and are often moulded to carry certain traditional images, with the most popular being windmills.
All Speculaas cookies contain a distinct spice mix, which always contains a blend of cinnamon, ginger and cloves.
I’ve incorporated the famous Dutch spiced cookies into this cheesecake in 3 unique ways: the foundation of the cheesecake cookie base, ground and folded into the filling and decorated on the top.
If you love festive spices and creamy desserts you’ll love how we married classic baked cheesecake with Speculaas cookies! A marriage made in holiday dessert heaven!
Speculaas VS Speculoos
Most people are quite particular about whether to call the popular shortcrust biscuits a speculaas or speculoos cookie.
The aa and the oo helps note where the cookie is from. Speculaas is the term used in Holland while speculoos is the Flemish spelling used in Belgium.
Speculoos is also most associated with the famous cookie brand Lotus Biscoff. In the world of spiced cookies, Biscoff and Speculaas hold a notable place, each with their own unique characteristics. Speculaas offers a distinct cinnamony spice blend with a crisp texture, while Biscoff boasts a caramelized sweetness and a crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth sensation.
I prefer to use Speculaas when making this cheesecake as the windmill-shaped biscuits are eye-catching and the spice blend has a more festive flavour. You can prepare the recipe with Speculoos Biscoff if you prefer to enjoy a similar tasty result.
Ingredients
Before making this Speculaas Cheesecake recipe open your fridge and cupboards to ensure you have all the ingredients you’ll need:
Base
- 80 g Butter
- 150 g Ground Speculoos Cookies
Filling
- 250 g Ricotta
- 250 g Cream Cheese
- 300 g White Sugar
- 5 Eggs
- 60 g White Chocolate
- 60 g Ground Speculoos Cookies
Topping
- 200 g Sour Cream
- 2 tbsp White Sugar
- 3 tbsp Strong Coffee
- 100 g Speculoos Cookies
Directions
Follow our step-by-step instructions and you’ll see how easy it is to make this cheesecake flavoured with festive speculaas spices!
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a springform pan baking tin and cover the bottom with parchment paper.
- Melt the butter and mix with ground Speculoos cookies. Distribute over the bottom of the springform pan and press down with your hands until smooth and level. Place in the fridge to cool.
- Whisk the ricotta cheese, cream cheese, and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs one by one, beating well each time.
- Melt the chocolate and add to the cheese mixture. Add the ground Speculoos cookies. Pour the mixture into the springform pan and bake for 1 hour.
- Mix the sour cream with the sugar and coffee. Spread the topping over the cheesecake while still warm and bake another 5 minutes at 325 F.
- With a knife, loosen the cheesecake from the sides of the springform, but don’t remove the tin yet.
- Leave to cool for at least 2 hours in the fridge.
- Before serving top the cheesecake with Speculoos Cookie pieces.
Speculaas Cheesecake Recipe Tips
If it’s your first time baking a cheesecake we’ve included some helpful tips and tricks below:
- During the holidays most grocery stores sell Speculaas Cookies but you can also easily purchase them on Amazon year-round.
- Be sure to grease the springform pan (with butter or cooking spray) and cover with parchment paper (don’t skip this step) as it allows you to easily remove the cheesecake from the pan and slice it.
- You can beat the filling ingredients together in a stand mixer with a whisk attachment or in a large mixing bowl with egg beaters (or a whisk if you want an arm workout).
- We’ve used white chocolate in this recipe but you can substitute with melted butterscotch or caramel chips if you prefer.
- We like to use a mixture of fluffy ricotta and thick cream cheese as it gives the cheesecake a tangy flavour and dense texture. If you don’t have access to or enjoy ricotta you can substitute by just using 500g of cream cheese.
- We suggest preparing the cheesecake the morning you are planning on serving it or even 24 hours in advance. This gives the interior a chance to set before slicing.
- You can add additional eye appeal to the dessert by drizzling the cookies on top with caramel sauce.
What To Serve With Speculaas Cheesecake
While we suggest serving Speculaas Cheesecake at Thanksgiving or Christmas the recipe can be enjoyed all year round.
We prepared this cheesecake to be served on our Thanksgiving dessert table alongside festive cookies, squares and pie. Be sure to serve with high quality espresso or a hot pot of your favourite drip coffee.
If you’re feeling truly decadent serve a slice with Maple Black Walnut Ice Cream or Pralines and Cream Ice Cream.
If you’re hosting a festive party we suggest serving this Speculaas Cheesecake recipe with some of our other favourite holiday recipes:
- Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Sandwich
- Nuts & Bolts Holiday Snack Mix
- Leeks In Cheese Sauce
- Cabbage and Cheese Gratin Casserole
- Braised Red Cabbage with Cranberries
- Speckknödel Bread Bacon Dumplings
- Kartoffelknödel Potato Dumplings
- Pork Rouladen with Bacon, Apple & Pickles
- Parsnip & Pear Soup
- Toblerone Cocktail
- Christmas Old Fashioned
Storage
If you have leftover cheesecake cover the springform pan in plastic wrap and store in the fridge for 3-5 days.
We like to double the recipe to save time and to ensure we always have a sweet dessert ready to serve for last minute dinner parties. To freeze, wrap the room temperature cake with both plastic wrap and foil to prevent freezer burn. It will last up to 3 months.
Thaw overnight in the fridge, decorate the top with Speculaas Cookies, slice and serve.
You May Also Enjoy These Holiday Dessert Recipes…
- Nussecken German Nut Corners
- Gevulde Speculaas Dutch Cherry Almond Spice Cookies
- Christmas Cranberry and White Chocolate Muffins
- Festive Spiced Mincemeat Muffins
- Fresh Fig Frangipane Pistachio Tartlets
- Roasted Hazelnut Ferrero Rocher Cookies
- Flodeboller Danish Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies
- Chokladsnittar Swedish Chocolate Cookie Slices
- Toblerone Shortbread Cookies
- Chocolate Hazelnut Ferrero Rocher Cake
How To Make Homemade Speculaas Cheesecake
Speculaas Cheesecake
Equipment
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- springform pan
- whisk
- mixing bowl
- spatula
Ingredients
Speculaas Base
- 80 g Butter
- 150 g Ground Speculaas Cookies
Filling
- 250 g Ricotta
- 250 g Cream Cheese
- 300 g White Sugar
- 5 Eggs
- 60 g White Chocolate
- 60 g Ground Speculaas Cookies
Topping
- 200 g Sour Cream
- 2 tbsp White Sugar
- 3 tbsp Strong Coffee
- 100 g Speculaas Cookies
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a springform pan baking tin and cover the bottom with parchment paper.
- Melt the butter and mix with ground Speculoos cookies. Distribute over the bottom of the springform pan and press down with your hands until smooth and level. Place in the fridge to cool.
- Whisk the ricotta cheese, cream cheese, and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs one by one, beating well each time.
- Melt the chocolate and add to the cheese mixture. Add the ground Speculaas cookies. Pour the mixture into the springform pan and bake for 1 hour.
- Mix the sour cream with the sugar and coffee. Spread the topping over the cheesecake while still warm and bake another 5 minutes at 325 F.
- With a knife, loosen the cheesecake from the sides of the springform, but don't remove the tin yet.
- Leave to cool for at least 2 hours in the fridge.
- Before serving top the cheesecake with Speculaas Cookie pieces.
Nutrition
Save this story to Pinterest!
